Tragic murder of Jo Cox doesn't mean fascism on the rise

The Left has gone into overdrive after the tragic Jo Cox murder, ranting on about Britain's un-talked-about fascist past. But the truth is that Britain barely has a fascist past, unless you include the fascist Left

It was predictable and inevitable that within hours of the Jo Cox atrocity, Grub Street would be offering motives, explanations, theories about the sinister forces behind the murderer.

It could not possibly have been the act of a mentally disturbed loner. There was a conspiracy.

First up, one Juliet Samuel in the Daily Telegraph: ‘It’s time to call the killing of Jo Cox what it is: 'an act of far-Right terrorism’, she announces.

According to her, Britain is riddled with sinister fascist forces. No doubt they are secretly plotting a Final Solution that will rid the world of 1.6 billion Muslims, 22 percent of the world population.

'There is very little discussion of our enduring fascist heritage. Yet Britain has been home to fascist groups for decades. There was a strong vein of support for Adolf Hitler in this country before the Second World War. The first lists of banned speakers drawn up by university student unions were populated by hateful fascists [like Germaine Greer?], not Islamist hate preachers.'

Of course, it may well be that the reason there has been ‘very little discussion’ on ‘our enduring fascist heritage’ is because there isn’t one. Researching fascism in Britain is an unrewarding task because of a paucity of information.

The British Union of Fascists, Oswald Mosley’s lot, had declined from about 20,000 members to 1,000 by 1939. And there was no strong strain of support for Adolf Hitler before 1939 either.

Early in the Third Reich there was admiration in some quarters for the way in which he revived the economy and dragged Germany back from the brink of starvation, but not for the regime. Supporters were largely confined to the dottier members of the aristocracy, the Mitfords, Lord Rothermere (who recanted), and Lord Haw Haw( who was hanged).

Once the true nature of the Reich appeared, the British public reacted in their traditional way -- with mockery and ridicule.

According to her it was all the fault of Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and the Brexiteers. The cardinal sin was to actually mention ‘immigration’. Along with ‘race’, ‘homosexual’, and ‘gender’ (sex, actually) the very use of the word should constitute a criminal offence in the make-believe world of The Guardian

'Rude, crude, Nazi-style extremism is mercifully rare. But the leavers have lifted several stones. How recklessly the decades of careful work and anti-racist laws to make those sentiments unacceptable have been overturned.

'This campaign has stirred up anti-migrant sentiment that used to be confined to outbursts from the far fringes of British politics. The justice minister, Michael Gove, and the leader of the house, Chris Grayling -- together with former London mayor Boris Johnson -- have allied themselves to divisive anti-foreigner sentiment ramped up to a level unprecedented in our lifetime.'

It’s the Far Right up to its evil tricks again fronted by Nigel Farage, Sir James Dyson, and other fascist puppets.

So where are all these fascists, members of ‘an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization’? Perhaps these hacks are using the Nuspeak definition of fascist: ‘anyone who does not totally agree with me.

However, there has been no confirmed sighting of a Blackshirt for 75 years, which in scientific terms means that the species is extinct.

Robin Mitchinson is a Contributing Editor to The Commentator. A former barrister, living in the Isle of Man, he is an international public management specialist with almost two decades of experience in institutional development, decentralisation and democratisation processes. He has advised governments and major international institutions across the world